Not only is VitalSigns free, it’s also ad-free and has no limitations, and it seems that it promises to stay that way. It’s also incredibly easy to set up, and once it’s up and running, the key stats it provides will be a click away in your notification center. It is, however, only compatible with OS X El Capitan.

When you first download the app, the first thing you’ll want to do is move the app to your Applications folder. When you first launch it, it will open up to the temperature tab where you can monitor CPU temperature, among others. You can also set it to display in Celsius or Fahrenheit.

The next tab will display the speed at which your fans are running.

And finally, the last tab displays a RAM monitor.

For each of these tabs, and each of the sub-items within them, you can select which will show in the notification center. The stats won’t, however, show up of their own accord. You’re going to have to activate them.

You can do this by going to System Preferences > Extensions. Here you’ll find VitalSigns listed and just make sure that the menu item “Today” is checked.

Now when you go to your Notification Center, you’ll see the stats you selected listed.

Compared to other monitoring apps, VitalSigns may be a little barebones, but if these are the only settings that are of concern to you, it’s a clean and easy-to-use option that will make a useful tool in your Mac arsenal.

How do you monitor your Mac’s system resources? Let us know in the comments.

Nancy is a writer and editor living in Washington DC. She was previously the Middle East editor at The Next Web and currently works at a DC-based think tank on communications and social media outreach.